A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright right whatsoever.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to method and systems for displaying targeted advertising and listings to web site users. More specifically, it relates to the qualification of an advertisement""s display and the notification to the advertiser. Further, the invention relates to advertisements displayed based upon a unique part identification being queried, and the industry segment of the inquirer.
2. Background of the Invention
One of the major problems facing advertisers is directing their advertisement to the correct prospect at just the right time. The advent of the internet presents interesting possibilities for attempting to customize an advertisement. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,009,410, LeMole, concerns a method for presenting customized advertising to a user on the internet, where banner advertisements are selected from several different advertisers, and the customized page is determined from the user""s specific area of interest based on demographic data. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,933,811, Angles, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,948,061, Merriman, concern other methods for delivering customized or targeted advertisements over the internet. Angles selects a customized advertisement based on a consumer profile (cookie). Merriman also uses a cookie, wherein an advertisement server determines which of several advertisements to match to the user.
It is also now conventional to utilize an internet user""s activity such as searching to trigger a particular advertisement. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,392, Alberts.
It is also generally known to utilize the internet to search for a product. In one variation, a user can type in a product number, and a predesignated information source, such as an advertisement, is displayed to the user. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,918,214, Perkowski.
None of these conventional advertising methods envision a specialized user. More specifically, traditional internet advertising frequently does not advertise close to the point of purchase, concerning the particular product use of interest to users on a vertical portal or web site. (xe2x80x9cVerticalxe2x80x9d is used herein to designate a web site or portal or the like which is directed to a specific industry or type of user rather than an undifferentiated member of the general population.)
Thus, there remains a need for a display advertisement system which utilizes unique qualities of certain industries in order to qualify an advertisement.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved method for determining and directing advertisements on the internet, via user qualification. It is an optional feature of the present invention that it notifies an advertiser whose advertisement was displayed to a particular user.
According to the invention, there is provided a method and system for providing an advertisement for display on a computer system. One of several part numbers is received from a user request. An advertisement to be displayed is triggered if (i) the user is associated with a pre-determined desired group corresponding to the triggered advertisement, and (ii) the user is not associated with a pre-determined no-show group corresponding to the triggered advertisement. The triggering step further includes determining whether the triggered advertisement has exceeded a pre-determined maximum number of showings. An advertiser associated with the advertisement is notified of the triggered advertisement and the user. Optionally, the notifying step is substantially simultaneous with the triggering step, or is subsequent to the triggering step. Further, responsive to the user request, stored information is searched for a part corresponding to at least one part number. Also, the triggered advertisement is transmitted to the user. Further, the user is classified by type within a vertical industry. Classification includes storing an indication from the user of one of several of subtypes for a vertical industry. For each of several advertisers, there are stored part numbers; for each of a portion of part numbers for at least one of the advertisers, there is stored the triggered advertisement; further, the advertisement is triggered if (iii) at least one of the received part numbers is included in the portion of part numbers. For each of the users including the user, the users are classified with a group corresponding to the triggered advertisement. Further, optionally, for a portion of a plurality of users including the user, the portion of users are classified with a group corresponding to a no-show group.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention are readily apparent from the following drawings and detailed description.